On the 6th of November 2012 the real purpose behind mass immigration into America became starkly clear, when the undocumented citizen did what they are being paid to do and re-elected an otherwise unelectable American president.

Good-bye Wonder Bread -- the bread that "helps build strong bodies 12 ways," according to the advertising slogan for the brand of soft, white bread introduced in 1921 -- the 12 ways referring to 12 nutrients the owners of the company thought were worth talking about.

Hostess Brands, makers of these sweet, iconic goodies, said this week it did not have the financial resources to survive a strike by 5,000 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union and would, therefore, close its 33 plants and end the company that currently employs 18,500.

It is a company with a storied past, one sugary snack after another, some that date back to the Roaring '20s, like Ho Hos that first appeared in 1920 in San Francisco.

Hostess Cupcakes are a year older. They first appeared in 1919, the year Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees and President Woodrow Wilson was in the White House.

Together, they define a kitchen of kitsch, a pantry full of Americana, a slice of our not-so nutritious national diet, but one that strikes at the hearts of youth, anyway.

Who can resist a Yodel? Certainly not cartoon character Homer Simpson. In one episode, with only the money to afford one, Simpson has to choose between a winning $500 lottery ticket and a Yodel. Guess which one he goes for.

Such a lineup of American history, the products made by Hostess Brands are like the cast of Marvel Comic super heroes. They seem to melt into a collective, universal consciousness. They are practically timeless, an American inheritance that should be passed on from generation to generation, like the rules of golf or Buster Keaton comedies.

Moreover, what's in a name? Ho Hos -- really? Twinkies -- we can say that in public? Yodels -- how perfect! These are names that beg for an appearance in a comedian's monologue. Imagine Robin Williams, Woody Allen and Johnny Carson touring a factory where Twinkies are made. Ripe fruit doesn't get much closer to the ground than that.

Hitched to the American scene, scriptwriters have long had fun with Hostess Brands. In "Ghost Busters," written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, when asked what he means by the word "big," scientist Egon Spengler explains, "Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's reading, it would be a Twinkie 35 feet long, weighing approximately 600 pounds."

To which his cohort Winston Zeddemore replies, "That's a big Twinkie."

Comedic horror film screen writers must get together and compare notes, for several seem to recognize the power of the Twinkie metaphor.

Notably, for the Understatement of the Week, the Woody Harrelson character in "Zombieland" provides viewers with this apocalyptic prophesy which, unless a buyer shows up soon, could turn out to be the eulogy for Hostess Brands itself.

Written by scriptwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the character named Tallahassee says, "There's a box of Twinkies in that grocery store. Not just any box of Twinkies, the last box of Twinkies that anyone will enjoy in the whole universe. Believe it or not, Twinkies have an expiration date. Some day very soon, life's little Twinkie gauge is gonna go ... empty."

h/t Instapundit
...When looking at maps of the United States showing red for counties where the Republican candidate received more votes and blue for counties where the Democrats won, one cant help but be struck by the predominance of red. Basically, the urban metropolises are Democratic blue and the vast expanse of most of the rest of the country is overwhelmingly red. If presidents were elected by acreage rather than by head count, Republicans would win national elections by landslides.

...One obvious explanation for the overwhelming Democratic majorities in big cities is the Curley effect with the corresponding concentration of Democratic constituencies like welfare recipients and unions, but there is more to it than that. The Curley effect has turned once-vibrant cities into economic basket cases, but what, then, can explain the perennial dominance of Democrats in such thriving, prosperous cities as Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco? Why do affluent, white-collar, highly educated citizens in these cities tend to be liberal and vote Democratic?

Sociologists could have a field day with this question, but the explanation could be something as simple as the fact that people who live in cities are relatively insulated from how difficult and challenging it can be to produce the food, energy, equipment, devices, etc., that comprise the affluence that urbanites enjoy. In their urban cocoons, city-dwellers take for granted the abundance and availability of the economic goods that they consume. For instance, many well-to-do, educated urbanites see no downside to supporting stricter regulations and higher taxes on energy producers, because to them, energy is something that is always there at the flip of a switch (except during the occasional hurricane, as some New Yorkers recently discovered). Life in the city for affluent Americans creates the illusion that all they have to do is demand something andpresto!it will be there when they want it.

#1
Yeah. They don't know how it comes to them and they don't care. Stuff just magically appears at Whole Foods instead of being at the end of an amazing string of logistics from Outer Gwondonaland. Fuck anyone who dares to sggest otherwise.

#3
Why do affluent, white-collar, highly educated citizens in these cities tend to be liberal and vote Democratic?

Living as a city dwellers alters and sometimes impares cognitive thinking and good mental health. I believe B.F. Skinner did some experiments with certain animals in smallish boxes....... (the results of which have been widely studied and accepted for decades).

#6
I remember the riot years. These places will turn on each other in a heartbeat. They think you have anything they will take it. Retail stores hit hard and burned out. Nice autos destroyed. They will be at it all night. During the morning say from 9-1 they will be asleep. Move about then. When the kids see the adults do this they will join in and sometimes be worse. Urban areas have a false sense of security. LBJ started social programs that are monster programs now. When the money stops they lose their control.

#10
Urbanites dictating to others loads of fairy tale regulation without context to its consequences. I believe this was codified a few millenniums ago by Aesop in 'Killing The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs'. Remember we're so modern, hip, there's nothing that the ancients could tell us, say like -
Thou shall not covet
Thou shall not bear false witness
Thou shall not steal

So, go ahead, create a social philosophy that tells you to do just the opposite, because you're modern and urban, do it for 'social justice'. Ignore the portents of Katrina and Sandy, they're just a bunch of wannabe Cassandras. Live, drink and be urban.

#15
Yes, but when it comes to siege cuisine, last is the rat. Crows and carrian lovers chase off the Hemingway steaks. Check the paw, there is a reason real world butchers leave it on.

At the onset of the Peloponnesian War, Athens, argueably that day's New York City, decided to wall themselves in and forced its rural subjects into the city. Almost immediately those rural folks were trying to escape, figuring their chances against the Spartans were greater than in a cut off city. Even with the port mostly operational and the olde school no electricity eat things we throw away and knowledge of proper waste disposal at war do or die, things went downhill very quickly.

#16
Highly esucate? Well I would count diplimoas in psychanaysis (Freud was a a scammer), Baklack or women stdies and similar clown disciplines as negative>/b> eduvcation. And people having gone into debt for graduating in.. art history as having, at best, zero education (it is OK if you are millionaire and wanted to please yourself).

#17
BIG CITY: Paying to Rebuild, and Rebuild Again
what one quickly learns while knocking about in the Rockaways is that many people didnt have flood insurance to begin with. Living by the ocean will eventually exact its costs; flood insurance is expensive. Not having flood insurance can also be expensive. Anyone who has been to the waterfront in boroughs outside Manhattan realizes that it is not East Hampton or Maine. Given the current conditions, it would seem like folly to rebuild on the ocean in the Rockaways, but if one did so, logic would advise building farther back, away from the water. But in the Rockaways, there is no farther back; if you moved your house, youd be reconstructing in your neighbors dining room.

[Dawn] AS Pakistain's government and security apparatus struggles to get its message across, an organization with militancy as its main claim to fame presents a stark contrast.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba..., as the Lashkar-e-Taiba...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... has been known since it was banned, was a relative latecomer to Twitter, only arriving in February this year. But whosoever manages the account @JuD_Official appears media savvy, generally polite and responsive.

The group is seen as a 'clinically-efficient killing machine' because of its turban activities in Indian-held Kashmire over the years. Its members have also been charged with the ruthless and brutal terror attack on civilians in Mumbai in 2008, all but propelling the two countries towards a war.

At the same time, the group's 'welfare' arm was seen in action when that devastating earthquake shattered millions of lives in Pak Kashmire in 2005. In a tell-tale sign of perhaps their dual role, its volunteers, engaged in the relief effort, were reluctant to be caught on camera.

While Hafiz Muhammad Saeed...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain..., the Saudi-educated firebrand...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... orator and JuD founder, may have vehemently rubbished Western allegations that his organization has military ambitions beyond its avowed stance on Kashmire, some of its actions have raised many an eyebrow.

For example, the Mumbai terror attacks could hardly have been connected with Kashmire, and were viewed as an attempt to ignite an India-Pakistain conflagration. Such a horror would have diverted Pakistain's attention away from its fight against Al Qaeda-Taliban. Hence, the doubts and allegations.

Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the group is conscious of its image and keen to be viewed in terms other than a lethal turban force which has worked in close coordination with the army and intelligence services.

While at public meetings Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and other leaders of his organization unmistakably breathe fire, his TV appearances are marked by a measured tone and a fairly plausible line of argument. But it is social media where JuD's sophistication becomes apparent.

Earlier this week, Hindustan Times carried a story that Ziaur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the key accused facing trial for the Mumbai carnage in Rawalpindi's Adiyala prison, has fathered a child during his four-year incarceration. The child is said to be two years old.

The report says this was disclosed to his Indian interrogators by another key suspect, Abu Jundal, who was extradited from Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face.... Abu Jundal is reported to have said this good news was given to him by Lakhvi himself in a phone conversation.

According to this report, Abu Jundal's answers led his Indian intelligence interrogators to believe that in prison "Lakhvi is treated like a state guest and not a terrorist." So much so that his "youngest wife" was allowed prison visits and afforded privacy.

I am unaware whether Pak law allows conjugal visits in prison and also mindful of the fact that with a couple of weeks to go for the Mumbai carnage's fourth anniversary, pressure would be mounting on Pakistain to do more to convict the accused.

Turkey plans to revive its Ottoman Empire, Iran its Persian hegemony over the Gulf region, and the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists announce that they want to fulfill their dream of the revived Caliphate  all in the name of democracy.

#1
To paraph a FREEREPUBLIC BLOGGER > the Commies are using Radical Islam to covertly or PDeniably destroy the US-West + their democratic, free market systems, + impose OWG = Global Socialist Govt-Order; whereas Radical Islam is using the Commies + liberalist secularism to impose Global Sharia-Islamic Order, IN THE NAME OF MULTI-ETHNIC, PUBLIC "FAIRNESS", "BALANCE",
"TOLERANCE", + "DIVERSITY" - WHEN, NOT IFF, THE US-WEST IS DE FACTO FINALLY DESTROYED AND THEY DIVORCE, IT TAINT GONNA BE PRETTY OR PEACEFUL.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.